A R2R Care Spotlight: "Zoanthid Eating Spiders"

[ficklefins]

Club-Zoa is bringing back an old feature, the Spotlight series! Because of the time off we decided to come back with a CZ Care Spotlight focusing on Zoanthid eating spiders. For those of you who are new to Club-Zoa Spotlights they are threads that focus on a particular topic with information provided by our members. If you want more information on previous Spotlights, or want to suggest a topic for a new Spotlight see the links at the bottom of this post.
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Zoanthid predators come in various shapes and sizes, but Zoa eating Spiders are one of the most recognizable pests. These predators are often found sitting on top of a Zoa feeding off a polyp like a vampire.

Zoanthid Eating Spiders

Identification
Characterized by their eight legs, these spiders are a rust/tan color with long legs. Sizes range around one-quarter inch across but look much longer when their legs are stretched. This picture is from Melevs Reef, thanks Marc :wave:

This picture is a from a frag I got last year.

Treatment
- Livestock
1. Radiant Wrasses may be a Spider hunter.

(photo courtesy of fishbase.org)

- Chemical/Mechanical Treatments
1. Physical removal can be an effective method of prevention, but should only be used as a first step.

2. A continuous cycle of freshwater dips with the correct temperature and pH.

6. I dipped every zoo frag weekly until I saw no spiders for 1 month. Some
people put the zoos back in the DT after 2 weeks without spiders. I am
more cautious because:
a. The male spiders seem to carry the eggs from what I have read.
Some sources said that the eggs are deposited in the zoos, but
I found more sources saying that the males carry the eggs. No
one seems to know much about the gestational period of these
things, so no one knows how long the eggs may need to hatch
out. I do know that I continued to find small spiders for a while
after the time I found no large ones, so perhaps the eggs are
laid in the zoo somewhere and are protected from dipping.
b. I found baby spiders three weeks after the zoos had been cleared
during the first 2 months.
7. After the month of no spiders, I put the frags back in the tank and have
had no problems now for many months. Final spider count after the four
months--87 spiders.

3. A Magnesium Chloride Dip (MgCl2) using RO/DI water at a 1.024spg for half a minute. This method was suggested by Bob Fenner @ http://www.wetwebmedia.com/zoanthidhlthfaqs.htm under the title: "Zoanthid spiders, Pycnogonids, MgCl2 dipping... 4/18/07"


Prevention
1. Quarantine your corals!

2. Dip your zoas with either the Lugols Method or freshwater set to the correct temp and pH. How long you should dip differs for every user (suggestions range from 3-15 minutes), but if you use the dip method along with a quarantine tank you are taking the most safeguards.

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Feel free to comment on past Club-Zoa Spotlights:

Club-Zoa Zoanthid/Paly spotlights:
Variable Star

Pyro’s Envy

PPRPE

Pink Elephants

Ruby Red

Red People Eater

Mean Green

Eagle Eyes

Purple People Eaters

Armageddon

Purple Death

Armor of Gods

Nuclear Green

Club-Zoa LPS Spotlight:
Acanthastrea lordhowensis

Club-Zoa Care Spotlights:
Shipping Methods Revisited

Shipping Methods

Zoa Dip

Zoanthid Anatomy

Suggest a Spotlight:
CZ Spotlight, what do you want to see?

 

[revhtree]

Awesome info and the other spotlights are very cool! Thanks for all the hard work with this bro.

 

[ficklefins]

Thanks Rev.

BTW, these spotlight posts are not limited to those with experience with a particular coral or subject. We want new and experienced users to ask questions and give feedback.

Thanks,

Luciano

 

[Xirxes23]

I've seen a few picnogonids (sea spiders) over the years, and i have been able to physically remove the few i have encountered, much like sundial snails.
I have never seen an outbreak, but i imagine that a lugol's(iodine) SW dip, of which my personal recommendation is at a rate of 40 drops per gallon (downsize volume if necessary) for 20-30 seconds should do the trick on any larval or small pests like this.

 

[Hopkins]

Those give me the creeps. I will take nudis any day of the week over those.

 

[mbunaman]

I know a local hobbyist claims his Radiant Wrasse cleaned up his infected colonies. Also I have read that a dip in Epsom Salt is supposed to kill them. I never tried it and I dont have any spiders to try them on. Your supposed to measure 1.021-1.023 on the hydrometer for the Epsom Salt bath treatment. I dont know if it works or if it effects zoanthids in any way. So try at your own risk.

 

[Xirxes23]

epsom salt treatment is functionally high Magnesium treatment, probably won't harmt he zoas all that much.

 

[rackyrane]

I had a battle with these last year so I found out quite a bit about them. I am glad to finally be able to add something!
I have been into saltwater tanks for a little over one year now, so I'm still a newbie. I had done a bunch of reading but did not realize that everything should be QT'ed before going into the DT. I picked up a couple of frags from my LFS and an online vendor (not a sponsor here). One of the frags was infested with spiders. I accidentally discovered them when I was moving the frags around in the tank and saw one.
After alot of research and alot of talking to people on forums like RC and posting to Bob Fenner on wetwebmedia.com, this is what I found that worked for me:

1. Always QT. As a newbie, I did not know this, but found out the hard way.
2. When I get a new frag, I always visually inspect it. You still may not see
the spiders because they tend to blend in to the stalk of the polyp. I
have read, and found to be true, the fact that these things are usually
near the base of the polyp and/or hiding among the stalk of the polyp, up
close to the polyp. This makes them a somewhat hard to see.
3. I always FW dip my zoos. I have found through experimenting with my
resident spiders that they don't tolerate FW. After a couple of minutes,
they curl up and can be easily picked off the zoo. I tried only dipping the
frags for less than a minute, but the bigger ones tended to live through
the shorter dip times.
4. I also tried Coral Dip. It sometimes killed them and sometimes only seemed
to stun them. FW seems to work best for me.
5. I took all of my zoos out of my DT and kept them in QT for 3 to 4 months.
6. I dipped every zoo frag weekly until I saw no spiders for 1 month. Some
people put the zoos back in the DT after 2 weeks without spiders. I am
more cautious because:
a. The male spiders seem to carry the eggs from what I have read.
Some sources said that the eggs are deposited in the zoos, but
I found more sources saying that the males carry the eggs. No
one seems to know much about the gestational period of these
things, so no one knows how long the eggs may need to hatch
out. I do know that I continued to find small spiders for a while
after the time I found no large ones, so perhaps the eggs are
laid in the zoo somewhere and are protected from dipping.
b. I found baby spiders three weeks after the zoos had been cleared
during the first 2 months.
7. After the month of no spiders, I put the frags back in the tank and have
had no problems now for many months. Final spider count after the four
months--87 spiders.

Other things I found out about the spiders during my odyssey:
--they have these proboscis that they stick into the zoo and feed on
the zoo with
--they are more active at night and can be discovered with the old
red light trick
--they are blinking hard to get rid of. They can weaken your zoos
so badly that they may not survive the QT/dipping process.
--there was a PAGES long thread from some poor guy in the UK who
apparently had tons of great morphs, some rare. He lost many of
his colonies to the spiders before he got rid of them. I learned alot
of the above info from what worked for him.
--there is not alot of info in print about these things.
--they sure are ugly little buggers.
--there are numerous kinds of spiders in nature, only a few prey on
our beloved corals.
--there is a video on the net that shows a herd of HUGE spiders
walking on the ocean floor. If you want to be truly creeped out,
look it up. I think I initially found it on RC

Hope this helps everyone. Just my experience. Hopefully others can add more!

 

[rackyrane]

Mbunaman,
Bob Fenner posted to me on wetwebmedia.com about a Magnesium dip. I never got around to trying it because the FW dip worked for me.

 

[turbois300]

EEeeewwww! Those things are nasty looking. I have never seen any in my tank but now I'll be all paranoid. What is their rate of consumption?? How fast can they take out a colony? What are some of the signs that a Zoa is getting eaten? Again I haven't had a problem or sighting so I want to be more informed on this potential Zoa destroyer

 

[msman825]

 

[ficklefins]

Spotlight has been updated. Great information everybody! Keep it coming.

One question.. How long do you dip your zoas when using a FW dip?

 

[msman825]

I usally dip mine for 8-10 minutes . have forgot them in there for about a hour and a half before

 

[rackyrane]

I have dipped my zoos for five minutes. I was always afraid to leave them in longer, but will not be so concerned after reading msman's post.

tubois300,
I'm not sure how long it takes for them to wipe out a full colony. I would think it depends on the size of the colony and the number of spiders present. I lost a nice size frag of about 40 polyps over a 6 week time span.
I was really new at the hobby when I had these things and thought I was doing something wrong, but I think it was the spiders. What I noticed was that the zoos started staying closed and became spindly looking. They just seemed to shrink away---not melt. The zoos next to them were full and healthy looking, but the affected zoos just became skinnier and skinnier. I actually observed a spider with its proboscis stuck into the side of a zoo feeding once. (I'm the scientific, observational type! )

 

[Weetabix7]

Spotlight has been updated. Great information everybody! Keep it coming.

One question.. How long do you dip your zoas when using a FW dip?

I do 3 mins.

 

[revhtree]

Bump!

 

[Hypertek99]

I usually dip mine for like 15 mins. So far i have encounter 1 spider. They aren't that nasty but if i came across a herd of them them i might get creeped out.

 

[turbois300]

Thanks rack!! I'm notsure but I may have a bit of a different problem.......starfish

Well I noticed some stars ravaging a colony of zoas this morning so i pulled them off. I have a ton of them in the tank but until now I haven't seen them messing with anything. Do you all think that I should go ahead and begin removing them all......my oldest daughter likes them alot so I'll have to do it covertly. But I mean there are a ton in the tank and fuge. I'm moving shortly so what do you all recomend for starfish removal?? I guess I could get a harlequin shrimp and be done with it.??????

 

[revhtree]

Anybody got anymore info on these nasty buggers?

 

[Azurel]

Yea they are disgusting.....That sums it up right there....